Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan is splitting its chief investment officer role in two, promoting a pair of executives to succeed CIO Ziad Hindo, who announced in September that he was leaving the pension fund manager.
Teachers tapped Stephen McLennan to be CIO for asset allocation, tasking him with setting the fund’s overall mix of assets and managing its risks. Mr. McLennan had served as acting head of investments since Mr. Hindo’s announcement, and previously led the total fund management department.
Gillian Brown has been named CIO for public and private investments, in charge of the fund’s investing across several different asset classes, including equities, infrastructure and real estate. Ms. Brown had led Teachers’ capital markets department since 2018.
In dividing the CIO role, Teachers is giving added prominence to a popular approach seen at large funds that seeks to manage a broad array of assets, liquidity requirements and risks holistically, rather than in silos.
The new leadership structure “provides improved balance of focus and accountabilities of investment leaders in what is increasingly a complex and dynamic business environment,” said chief executive officer Jo Taylor, in an e-mailed statement. “These changes show an intent to be agile and anticipate some of the opportunities ahead.”
Though rare, it is not the first time a major Canadian pension fund has had dual CIOs. As recently as 2022, Alberta Investment Management Corp. (AIMCo) had one CIO focused on public-market investments and a second in charge of private assets, before the pension fund manager returned to having a single CIO when it hired Marlene Puffer.
Teachers is also creating a chief strategy officer role and promoted Jonathan Hausman, who led its global investment strategy department, to oversee the fund’s strategy, sustainable investing activities and stakeholder relations. He keeps responsibility for global investment strategy as part of his new job.
Mr. Taylor emphasized in his statement that all three appointments went to existing employees with long track records at the pension fund, which “reflects the strength of our in-house talent.”
Ms. Brown joined Teachers in 1995, Mr. McLennan in 2003 and Mr. Hausman in 2004.
All three executives will join the senior executive team at Teachers, as will Nick Jansa, an executive managing director who leads investment and portfolio management in Europe, the Middle East and Africa from the fund’s London office. Mr. Jansa takes a permanent seat at the top executive table after joining it temporarily as part of a senior team rotation.
James Bradshaw